


He's a Scoundrel

by Draco_sollicitus



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adventure, Damerey Valentine, DamereyDaily2020, F/M, Fluff, Heiress!Rey, Pining Poe, Pirate!Poe, Pirates of the Caribbean AU, Prompt 2.14, Rey Palpatine, Romance, Scoundrels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:54:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22729465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: After he saves the life of the heiress he fell in love with as a boy, pirate Poe Dameron has one choice: stand aside and let Rey marry the horrid Benjamin Solo, or be executed for his crimes against the crown.But, on her wedding day, Rey Palpatine has some ideas of her own ....
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 15
Kudos: 134





	He's a Scoundrel

**Author's Note:**

> For the Damerey Daily Prompt  
>  _I’ve been thinking. What if I decided to go flying around the galaxy with some scoundrel?_
> 
> Best read while listening to "He's a Pirate' from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack ;)

_1730_

“Where is she?”

Ben Solo stomped down the church steps, hat in hand; his polished buttons shining in the Caribbean sun, the soldier cut a ferocious figure as he growled, pointing at his uncle, whose ward was obviously missing from the morning’s proceedings.

“Where is who?” Luke Skywalker peered down towards the docks, and then up towards the town. “Your mother? If you look close enough, you’ll see she’s right here, Benjanim.” Leia waved merrily from the shade before returning to a hushed conversation with her lady-in-waiting.

“Don’t play the fool with me, old man.” Ben’s hand twitched toward his sword.

It would have been a foolish gesture had he drawn it - Luke Skywalker, while growing grey, was still the best swordmaster in that hemisphere.

“Where. Is. Rey?” Ben loomed over the priest, who’d come scurrying out of the church as the bells tolled ahead, signaling a wedding that would no longer take place that day. “If Mr. Snoke catches wind of this-”

“He’ll what?” Luke blinked mildly. “Drag my ward down here? I think we both know Ms. Palpatine is too headstrong to be ordered about, to be controlled and kept as a treasure in one of your little mansions.”

“If the East India Trading Company pulls out its stakes in this town-”

“I’m sure its people will find a way to get by without the bloodied coin you’re so content to keep,” Leia cut in coolly, emerging from the shade, her face still protected by her parasol. “And really Benjamin, keep your voice down, unless you’d like your bride to locate you through sound alone.”

“I’m going after her,” Ben decided, pushing the priest and sweeping up the street.

“I think I saw her in her rooms, preparing,” Leia called out, and Ben flapped an irate hand before pivoting and walking north into town, towards his uncle’s home.

“Why, my darling Leia.” Luke looped his arm through his twin’s as they watched Benjamin Solo tear up the street. “How devious. We both saw her heading south a quarter of an hour ago.”

“South?” Leia’s lips twitched. “But that would take her towards the docks.”

“You’d think my ward would have had enough adventure on the seas by now,” Luke mused as they strolled right, towards the grove of trees that waved gently in the pleasant breeze.

“Oh, my dear Luke. I don’t think that girl could ever really have her fill of adventure.”

* * *

Poe Dameron loaded the last of the crates onto his borrowed ship _,_ nodding at the boy who’d helped him with the lifting and slipping him a coin.

His pockets were heavy with it after all, since he’d returned the heiress to the Palpatine fortune and the ward of the Skywalkers safe and sound to her Jakku home. Somehow, although he’d been paid a pretty purse for her safe return after she’d been kidnapped by some less generous pirates, Poe couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d let the real treasure slip away when she’d been carted off by her loving (if overbearing) guardian and her cruel fiance.

Poe closed his eyes, one foot on the gangplank, the other still on the dock, and breathed in one last time, letting his mind drift to that one, perfect kiss he’d shared with Rey Palpatine before they entered the harbor. It hadn’t been in the heat of the moment after they’d fought off twenty pirates at once - thank Poseidon himself that her kindly guardian, Luke, had taught her to swordfight - and it hadn’t even been when he stroked her hair from her face as she nursed him back from the edge of death due to a nasty, infected wound (when he’d whispered to her in his fevered delirium that he’d been in love with her as a boy in Jakku, before he went off to find his fortune at sea, that he was still in love with her, even if he was just a pirate).

No. She’d taken his face in her hands and smiled at him with tears in her eyes as they neared their final port, and whispered, “You’ll never be just a pirate to me, Poe Dameron,” and kissed him sweet enough to last a lifetime, better than rum, richer than a thousand gold coins. She’d kissed him goodbye - their only kiss, a goodbye - and now she was gone.

Poe shook himself from his reverie and opened his eyes, walking up the gangplank and pulling it up behind him. He strode to the other side of the deck, intending to take the boat out to sea, glad for the small size of the borrowed vessel, glad for its speed that would take him to Takodana where Maz waited with his restored _Black Beauty,_ where Jess and Kare and Snap and Finn were waiting, the best crew and family a man could ask for. 

Glad for its speed that would take him away from this place and the gut-wrenching memory of the woman he loved, no doubt married to that horrid snake by now if the bells tolling from the church were any indication.

(He’d sworn to her that he’d stay away. It had killed him to promise, and he’d nearly broken that promise a dozen times that morning alone - but Rey had told him the only way Poe wouldn’t be executed for piracy was if she promised to marry Ben Solo within the week. A deal, she’d said, tears in her eyes as she cupped his cheek - he’d climbed to the balcony outside her rooms in the middle of the night three days ago, desperate to see her even if it meant arrest, death, torture. He’d had to see her one last time, but he’d found her crying, and then she told him of the _deal_ she’d taken, and all hope was lost)

Rey. His love, his only love besides his ship and the sea, and better than the two combined. His sweet, sharp, fierce Rey. If he listened closely, he could still hear her voice.

“Poe Dameron!”

_Wait._

Poe spun on the deck, the ship starting to drift from the dock on its own, and glanced wildly around the docks. “Rey?” He breathed, the name barely slipping past his lips.

“Poe!”

“Rey!” He shouted it this time, sprinting to the side of the ship, gripping the railing as he spotted her in the crowd, which separated easily to let her through.

She was resplendent in her golden dress, her hair curled to perfection, if slightly ruffled by her sprinting. Rey ran towards his ship, dress hitched up to reveal her perfect legs, and although Poe had seen far more skin in his life and his career, he still blushed to see so much of his Rey. 

“Wait!” She called out, one hand reaching out to the boat as though she could stop it through the force of her will.

Poe scrambled to retie the boat, but they were too far past the docking now, and it fell short. He cursed, wildly, but Rey didn’t stop - still sprinting, she took a flying leap and grabbed onto the side of the ship, Poe diving to half-catch her. He hauled her in the rest of the way, knowing they’d both be bruised something fierce in the morning, but very much not caring.

“Ms. Palpatine,” he whispered, patting her arms to make sure she was real. Rey grinned at him, her cheeks flushed with the exertion of sprinting through the docks. “Or - God, should I say Mrs So-”

“Don’t.” Rey shook her head, her curls tumbling about her angelic, freckled face. “Don’t say it. It’s still me. Rey. Just Rey, Poe, please-”

“You didn’t marry-”

“I didn’t marry him.” Rey framed his face in her delicate hands, her new callouses from being at sea with him already softening. “I couldn’t. I'm sorry - I know - I know this puts you - us - in danger, but - It would have killed me-”

Poe nodded, not caring that the clear price for her not marrying that wretched man was most likely Poe's death. “Of course,” he assured her, his hands itching to hold her closer. And again, he’d held many a woman much closer, but with Rey - who he’d loved since he was a boy - he wanted to be careful. Gentleman-like. Even if he wasn’t a gentleman or anything proper.

He was a pirate.

“I want to be with you,” Rey explained, and his heart skipped before it deadened.

“But I’m a pirate,” he said out loud, voicing his doubt for her to remember. “A criminal. A scoundrel-”

“And what if I want to sail the seas with a scoundrel?” Rey leaned in, her brown eyes luminous, brighter than any gold. “What if I want to be a scoundrel?”

“Then-” Poe licked his lower lip nervously, and Rey’s eyes tracked the movement, sending a coil of hunger through his gut that wouldn’t be satisfied by an crust of bread. “Then …” 

She looked at him with hope, and he realized he really _could_ offer Rey something.

Freedom. And a future where someone actually loved her for who she was, her bright, untameable, wild spirit. 

That certainly wasn't nothing.

“Then, welcome aboard, miss,” Poe teased drowsily, already under her spell as he leaned forward, crossing the final distance to steal a kiss.

They embraced for a long time, until the boat knocked into the side of the dock slightly, rocking in the delicate waves, and they broke apart, laughing, lips swollen.

“We better hurry,” Rey said, standing and smoothing out the skirt of her ridiculous wedding gown. Poe wanted it off - he blushed at the thought of helping her remove it - but she was right in their priorities, judging by the sound of approaching loud voices. “Mr. Solo probably isn’t too happy with my absence from the church.”

Poe laughed and jumped to his feet. They sprung to action, working seamlessly as a team to get the ship out of the harbor, and as they pulled away at a decent speed, Rey paused and waved merrily at the shore - Poe could see Ben Solo glaring after them, a crew of red coated soldiers at his back. 

“He’ll never stop chasing us,” he pointed out mildly, coming to stand behind Rey, his heart singing with a joy that was half-adventure, half-her as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the underside of her jaw.

She shivered against him deliciously, and Poe hid his smile in her hair as he pressed his nose behind her ear. 

“Let him,” Rey whispered, waving one last time before she spun in his arms to kiss him fully. 

They sailed into the horizon, a pair of scoundrels off on their greatest adventure yet.

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY VALENTINES DAY (part one!)


End file.
